Severe weather onslaught to continue across midwestern US through Friday

There will be no rest for storm-weary residents of the midwestern United States as additional bouts of thunderstorms threaten to cause more damage through the end of the workweek.

On the heels of a significant outbreak of damaging thunderstorms at midweek, severe weather will once again threaten a swath from the northern Plains to the western Great Lakes through Friday.

The persistent stormy pattern will slow cleanup operations and continue to raise the risk of flash, urban and river flooding.

“The active pattern with rounds of showers and thunderstorms will continue through at least Friday in the Midwest,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson said.

The risk of severe weather on Thursday will be highly dependent on how much the atmosphere can re-energize following the significant storms on Wednesday and Wednesday night.

Storm coverage will be less widespread when compared to midweek.

Locally severe thunderstorms can develop toward the evening from near the Wyoming/South Dakota border to Iowa. Another area of locally intense thunderstorms will develop farther east in part of the Ohio Valley and Northeast.

“While storms may deliver localized flash flooding and damaging winds on Thursday into Thursday evening, the tornado threat will be low,” Adamson said.

“As a fairly vigorous storm moves east-southeastward across southern Canada on Friday, the threat for tornadoes will be higher than on Thursday, mainly across the eastern Dakotas and southwestern Minnesota,” he added.

Friday and Friday night’s threat zone will encompass a large portion of the northern Plains and reach into the western Great Lakes.

Bismarck, North Dakota; Aberdeen and Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Rochester, Minnesota; Madison, Wisconsin; and Chicago are among the cities that could face torrential downpours, hail and damaging winds to end the week.

Even where severe weather does not occur, repeated, heavy downpours will threaten flooding.

“Many of these areas have seen repeated heavy rainfall this month, and these additional rounds of storms will only exacerbate any ongoing flooding,” Adamson said.

Rainfall from midweek totaled 2 to 4 inches across a narrow swath of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Several inches of additional rainfall through the end of the week will struggle to soak into the saturated ground.

Runoff into area streams and rivers will be enhanced.

Those traveling through the region will need to stay vigilant for flood waters and downed trees or power lines blocking roads.

“The region may finally get a chance to dry out for a few days by late this weekend and early next week,” Adamson said.

Rounds of thunderstorms will continue to sweep eastward through the weekend, bringing an enhanced threat for flooding and locally severe weather to parts of the Northeast.